Commonplace 53 George & His Inner Circle. George and HG Wells. PART TWO
In some ways, George and HG Wells were opposite ends of the spectrum - George, self-absorbed, dissatisfied pessimist whose fatalism coloured his every move and forced him to avoid life vs HG, the outward-looking optimist activist who thought destiny was in our own hands in a world with which he engaged joyfully. Was there a genuine meeting of minds, or did George tug at HG's sentimental heart-strings? HG seems to have had a lot of sympathy to give - as did Mrs Wells. Did George waltz in and greedily guzzle it all up?
HG was a generous cove who knew, possibly better than any other of George's circle, what it meant to be born into the obscurity of the lower middle classes. Allegedly better than the working classes, but with no money to afford the outward shows of worthiness displayed by the middle classes, both writers started out in a social no-man's land. The conceit of a society divided into classes, by the time George and HG rocked up on the scene, was drawn along lines demarcated by money; part of the rationale being that, if you had any value in you, it could be exemplified by how much you could exploit your talents for pay. HG made loads of the stuff and spread it around; George made sure he hardly made a bean, but spread around what he had. Very few even of the educated lower middle classes ever achieved recognition in a world that was very much about who you knew, rather than what you knew. A fairly poor background and dire private education left HG virtually uneducated for social advancement; like George, he came to see writing - a great democratic leveller, contrary to what George might think - as a way for a boy from humble beginnings to work his way up the social ladder.
In 1879, HG had been taken on as a pupil-teacher at a school in Wookey (the place of the famous Hole) in Somerset; circumstances conspired to end this and he moved on to Midhurst to become a chemist's apprentice - you can imagine him comparing notes with George on this one, and how superior George must have felt at having come from a family who employed such lowly sorts. By 1881, HG had arrived in Southsea to begin a four-year apprenticeship as a draper at Hyde's Drapery Emporium in King's Road. Drapery is fabrics, notions, haberdashery - lovely words we rarely use nowadays. It might seem to us as a dead-end job for an eager young man; but, it would have afforded HG almost unlimited access to women. One's haberdasher was an intimate advisor - much as ladies' hairdresser's are today (for some women). Advising on home decor and on the various dress materials on sale would have given HG a lot of time in the company of elegant and stylish girls and their mamas - his love of the the fairer sex would have been nurtured in such an environment! Even at a time when mail order catalogues were popular - meaning much of the clothing was pret-a-porter, many costumes were tailor-made just as cheaply - the garment trade has always been a scandalous exploiter of cheap labour.
A visit to the haberdasher was an event for ladies of a certain sort. Often, tea would be provided; there would be sumptuous surroundings to best show off and display the fabrics; assistants would personalise the care they delivered to their customers. Human mannikins might parade wearing the latest styles. A haberdasher would have been a skilled operative, and not just a person behind a counter. Advice on interior design required knowledge of the science of fabric production and use, including cleaning and the dynamics of fabric - how cloth behaves in a garment is a science in itself; aesthetic knowledge was required to keep the customer in style; a certain degree of psychology would be required to manage customers' dreams; maths, to quickly assess the yardage and the cost - a range of skills we now don't usually see in a general department store.
By the time HG took up working in a shop, it was clear window-dressing as an Art form could make or break a store's reputation. By the end of the century, in 1897, L. Frank Baum (he of the Wizard of Oz) began a window dressing journal in the US - The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors click and
in 1900, The
Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors: A Complete Manual of Window
Trimming, Designed as an Educator in All the Details of the Art, According to
the Best Accepted Methods, and Treating Fully Every Important Subject followed. This upsurge in the need for more artistic and scientific interior display standards was due to the emerging use of electric lighting in shops, and the new dyes bringing a broader range of colours to fabrics.
An apprenticeship to such a trade would have equipped HG to find work in a range of situations; George had none of what is now termed 'transferrable skills' - apart from his ability to read and write! - to help find him work, though his ridiculous snobbery prevented him from ever considering a real job. HG found drapery dull and Southsea boring - he left after two years. But, he made use of his experience in The Wheels of Chance and Kipps in 1896 and 1905, respectively, both popular Wells novels.
In some small way, L Frank and HG were men ahead of their time - many of Baum's books invent new technologies and fantastic worlds - both writers were interested in science and new ideas. George claimed not to be interested in science, but that was a pose as he took advantage of new technologies - he sometimes used a car, had electricity and gas installed, was a keen train passenger, advocated the use of various medicines - and then there was his devotion to Darwin and the 'science' of sociology, as exemplified by the Positivists. However, a love of science demands optimism and George never liked to flirt with that. Science and technology were never George's love, maybe because he didn't understand much of it - he tended to only involve himself in things he found easy. If he had struggled with learning Greek George would have ended his days doing something very different to writing books hardly anyone has read - or, he might have had more success as a writer (much as HG thought!) because his unrealistic snobbery for mainstream fiction and journalism might not have kicked in. As seen in Commonplace 52, HG thought George was 'hopelessly mis-educated', and this consolidated the early Wakefield upbringing of remaining separate from so-called 'inferiors' in the members of the local community. This early misdirection of all democratic feeling was every bit as much a dark influence on George's development as was prison.
Of all George's friends, HG Wells seems to have been his closest - Morley Roberts never seemed up to George's standards and Eduard Bertz became someone to humour rather than an equal in whom to confide; it was Wells who arranged a venue for George to meet Gabrielle; it was Wells who bailed him out of various health crises, who cheered him up, tolerated his constant condescension when intellectual topics were discussed, and who rushed to be by his side at the end. Which means all Gissing fans have a very soft spot for HG. However, HG was not an unconditional lover of our man. He wrote some of the most critical and negative of reviews of George's work, and even after death, pulled no punches. The preface HG wrote for the posthumous publication of Veranilda famously offended the Gissing siblings; other writings were equally controversial. I think of all George's friends, HG knew him best - but he had only the approved by Gissing version of George to go by. George rarely divulged the truth (possibly didn't even recognise it, at times), and tried never to reveal his real self. Sentimental anecdotes about George failing to ride a bike with ease might be amusing (in a Last of the Summer Wine sort of way), but if HG's son, Anthony West is to be believed... but that's another post!
For HG biography, there are plenty of good film clips on youtube - he would have loved the thought of t'internet! Take a look at this 3-parter, slightly unsubtle but worthy click click click . Note the risible use of quill pens!
In this film footage click we see HG himself, sending us a message he would be delighted to know we received in the www weirdness of now.
This excellent article click by two behemoths of modern writing ably explains the appeal of HG. This is the first time in my life I have ever written the word 'behemoth'. I knew it would come in handy one day.
All these images are paintings that have been made on an ipad by David Hockney - a man not afraid to use technology for his Art. For more click
JOIN ME IN COMMONPLACE 57 WHEN WE LOOK AT HG'S VERSION OF GEORGE'S LESS THAN HEROIC LIFE - AS REVEALED BY ANTHONY WEST, HG'S SON.
In some ways, George and HG Wells were opposite ends of the spectrum - George, self-absorbed, dissatisfied pessimist whose fatalism coloured his every move and forced him to avoid life vs HG, the outward-looking optimist activist who thought destiny was in our own hands in a world with which he engaged joyfully. Was there a genuine meeting of minds, or did George tug at HG's sentimental heart-strings? HG seems to have had a lot of sympathy to give - as did Mrs Wells. Did George waltz in and greedily guzzle it all up?
In 1879, HG had been taken on as a pupil-teacher at a school in Wookey (the place of the famous Hole) in Somerset; circumstances conspired to end this and he moved on to Midhurst to become a chemist's apprentice - you can imagine him comparing notes with George on this one, and how superior George must have felt at having come from a family who employed such lowly sorts. By 1881, HG had arrived in Southsea to begin a four-year apprenticeship as a draper at Hyde's Drapery Emporium in King's Road. Drapery is fabrics, notions, haberdashery - lovely words we rarely use nowadays. It might seem to us as a dead-end job for an eager young man; but, it would have afforded HG almost unlimited access to women. One's haberdasher was an intimate advisor - much as ladies' hairdresser's are today (for some women). Advising on home decor and on the various dress materials on sale would have given HG a lot of time in the company of elegant and stylish girls and their mamas - his love of the the fairer sex would have been nurtured in such an environment! Even at a time when mail order catalogues were popular - meaning much of the clothing was pret-a-porter, many costumes were tailor-made just as cheaply - the garment trade has always been a scandalous exploiter of cheap labour.
A visit to the haberdasher was an event for ladies of a certain sort. Often, tea would be provided; there would be sumptuous surroundings to best show off and display the fabrics; assistants would personalise the care they delivered to their customers. Human mannikins might parade wearing the latest styles. A haberdasher would have been a skilled operative, and not just a person behind a counter. Advice on interior design required knowledge of the science of fabric production and use, including cleaning and the dynamics of fabric - how cloth behaves in a garment is a science in itself; aesthetic knowledge was required to keep the customer in style; a certain degree of psychology would be required to manage customers' dreams; maths, to quickly assess the yardage and the cost - a range of skills we now don't usually see in a general department store.
By the time HG took up working in a shop, it was clear window-dressing as an Art form could make or break a store's reputation. By the end of the century, in 1897, L. Frank Baum (he of the Wizard of Oz) began a window dressing journal in the US - The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors click and
in 1900, The
Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors: A Complete Manual of Window
Trimming, Designed as an Educator in All the Details of the Art, According to
the Best Accepted Methods, and Treating Fully Every Important Subject followed. This upsurge in the need for more artistic and scientific interior display standards was due to the emerging use of electric lighting in shops, and the new dyes bringing a broader range of colours to fabrics. An apprenticeship to such a trade would have equipped HG to find work in a range of situations; George had none of what is now termed 'transferrable skills' - apart from his ability to read and write! - to help find him work, though his ridiculous snobbery prevented him from ever considering a real job. HG found drapery dull and Southsea boring - he left after two years. But, he made use of his experience in The Wheels of Chance and Kipps in 1896 and 1905, respectively, both popular Wells novels.
In some small way, L Frank and HG were men ahead of their time - many of Baum's books invent new technologies and fantastic worlds - both writers were interested in science and new ideas. George claimed not to be interested in science, but that was a pose as he took advantage of new technologies - he sometimes used a car, had electricity and gas installed, was a keen train passenger, advocated the use of various medicines - and then there was his devotion to Darwin and the 'science' of sociology, as exemplified by the Positivists. However, a love of science demands optimism and George never liked to flirt with that. Science and technology were never George's love, maybe because he didn't understand much of it - he tended to only involve himself in things he found easy. If he had struggled with learning Greek George would have ended his days doing something very different to writing books hardly anyone has read - or, he might have had more success as a writer (much as HG thought!) because his unrealistic snobbery for mainstream fiction and journalism might not have kicked in. As seen in Commonplace 52, HG thought George was 'hopelessly mis-educated', and this consolidated the early Wakefield upbringing of remaining separate from so-called 'inferiors' in the members of the local community. This early misdirection of all democratic feeling was every bit as much a dark influence on George's development as was prison.
For HG biography, there are plenty of good film clips on youtube - he would have loved the thought of t'internet! Take a look at this 3-parter, slightly unsubtle but worthy click click click . Note the risible use of quill pens!
In this film footage click we see HG himself, sending us a message he would be delighted to know we received in the www weirdness of now.
This excellent article click by two behemoths of modern writing ably explains the appeal of HG. This is the first time in my life I have ever written the word 'behemoth'. I knew it would come in handy one day.
All these images are paintings that have been made on an ipad by David Hockney - a man not afraid to use technology for his Art. For more click
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| The town of Woking honours HG Wells in this War of the Worlds effigy. |
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